


ReWrite the Stars

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: And gets no redemptive arc here, Angst, F/M, Finnrey, Finnrey fridays, Jedi, Kylo is evil, Poe gets a boyfriend, Poe gets some love, Rey Organa, Rey Skywalker, Rey Solo, Space Opera, Star Wars - Freeform, The Last Jedi - Freeform, inspired by songs, scifi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 08:33:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16657708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: In the wake of learning her true parentage, Rey Solo/Skywalker/Organa finds herself in a complicated tangle of feelings, relationships, espionage, and the road to becoming a Jedi, while working for the Resistance. Poe has to save someone he cares about greatly. Finn learns that something he thought would last, wasn't meant to be, which leaves him to wonder where he goes from here. Somewhat inspired by the GREATEST SHOWMAN soundtrack, specifically the song REWRITE THE STARS.





	1. Idling in the Past

**Author's Note:**

> First: I do not own STAR WARS or the characters from the films, just some original characters/locations. If I owned STAR WARS, Han Solo would be alive & would have taken his belt to Kylo's crybaby arse, by now.
> 
> Second: Trigger warnings- probably nothing big in this first chapter, since it is mostly flashbacks to a lunch with Finn and getting ready to go save someone Poe cares about, there isn't any fighting. Does deal a little with Rey's abandonment and Finn's identity issues.
> 
> Third: Thank you for reading, please enjoy!

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Center. Breathe out. Breathe in.

Rey was working very hard, lately, to do her meditational exercises every day. Leia had been guiding her through them, as it was something Leia had insisted Luke teach her from the Jedi books. Her mother and uncle had not agreed on much when it came to Jedi Training, but the necessity of meditation had been one of the rare pieces, it seemed.

It was still odd, to think that Leia was her mother and Luke her uncle. To realize that not only had her family really been out there, looking for her, all this time, but that some of the most famous people in the galaxy were her relations. Han Solo, the smuggler and gambler extraordinaire, had been her father. The dark lord Kylo Ren was her elder brother.

Leia had been able to keep it hushed, for the most part. Only Leia, Poe, Finn, Rose, and Lando knew, and Rey preferred to keep it that way. She had not wanted everyone treating her differently. Granted, being one of the last Jedi and Luke’s final apprentice, she already received a fair amount of unwanted attention and awe.

“Hey, Day Dreamer?”

She smiled up at Poe, despite his interrupting her meditation.

“Yes?”

“We’re about an hour from touch-down. If there’s anything you need to get together for this little suicide mission, best gather it up.”

Nodding, she rose to her feet.

“Thanks. Kind’a lost track of time.”

Poe just nodded. He had been distracted the whole trip. Rey could only assume it was because the covert agent they were meeting, was Poe’s mysterious lover. Jessica and others had teased him enough about it that Rey almost felt like she knew this mystery agent.

“Are you alright?”

A sigh.

“Yeah, just got a lot on my mind. Of course, I don’t think I’m the only one in that boat.”

Rey shrugged, a weight settling between her lungs again. When they left, a little over three weeks ago, Finn had lunch with her ahead of this mission. It had become a tradition, he would always have a meal with her before she left for a mission. But that afternoon, he had been a little off, fidgeting wildly.

She had only gotten back from another mission the day before. Having been gone for almost two months, she had missed out on a lot. When she tried to get him to tell her what was going on, trying to root out the reason behind his shift in mood, he had mostly dodged her. She wanted to help him, if she could.

“You ever gonna tell me why you’re so jittery?”

“Jittery?”

Rey shrugged, chewing a large bite of food. No matter how often Poe, Leia, Jessica, Rose, or anyone else assured her that there would be more and that she needn’t inhale it, old habits died hard. At least Finn understood enough to not-comment when she ate like a field animal. He would just reach for her left hand, giving her wrist a small squeeze, whenever she started eating fast enough and loudly enough to draw stares from those around them. Or when he thought she was going to accidentally bite her tongue off.

“Sorry. I just… I have a bad feeling about this mission. Why did the agent insist on you coming?”

“Maybe they just want someone they know the name of. They also asked for Poe.”

“Exactly. Best pilot in the Resistance and the last of Luke’s Jedi. If the Rebellion loses the two of you, it would be the end of it.”

She had reached over, tugging on one of his fingers.

“Stop worrying. We’ll be fine.”

“Skywalker intuition?”

Rey tried to smile without spitting out her next bite of food. She was getting her share of freshly cooked protein before the mission, where she would be eating from tins and bags for who knew how long. At least Poe tended to snag good stuff, so it wasn’t as terrible as it could have been.

“Is that what’s bothering you?”

“Pardon?”

“That I figured out who my family are, where they went, why they didn’t come get me on Jakku, and you still don’t know where you came from? I still mean it, if you want to go looking between missions, I’ll go with you.”

She had expected him to growl or even leave. What Rey had not expected was for Finn to hang his head, his voice barely above a whisper.

“How does it feel?”

“What?”

“Knowing your last name?”

She had stopped in her tracks, not sure how to answer. On the one hand, it had been great to finally know. On the other, it had brought all new heartbreak and challenges. Han was not just a nice smuggler who took she and Finn in, then died at the hand of an evil creature. He had been her father, killed right in front of her by her own brother. Luke wasn’t just her mentor, he was her uncle, and General Organa was her real mother.

Instead of explaining it all to Finn, laying out her meandering, wild, racing thoughts to him, she had shrugged. Then let out a breath of her own.

“I suppose it feel like… when I go fly the Falcon someplace new. I know how to handle the controls, I know how to navigate, but sometimes I still have things come up and I’m not always sure I’ll know how to dodge them.", she paused she realized how that sounded out loud.

"That sounds terrible.”

Finn chuckled, though his eyes had been sad.

“I think I understand. They are strangers even if you are related.”

Finn’s hand, always so warm that it reminded her of the warm metal of her little home in Jakku, laid across the back of her wrist.

“Don’t worry Rey, you’ve always got me, no matter what our last names are.”

That had helped.

“You aren’t going to get weird because I’m…,” she leaned closer and whispered, “a _Skywalker_?”

Finn busted out laughing, shaking his head.

“I wouldn’t care if you were a Dameron, Rey. You’re always going to be my Rey.”

He blushed, his eyes going a little wide. Rey opened her mouth to comment when Poe came in, hollering her nickname.

“Hey Day Dreamer! Come on, we’ve been cleared to get out of here and be under way.”

Turning to Finn, she shoved her tray at him.

“Here, you can finish it for me.”

Finn stood with her, his hand still gently wrapped around her wrist.

“Be safe out there.”

Lunging, Rey wrapped her arms around his shoulders, much as she had when he appeared around a corner in Starkiller base. And just like then, his arms returned the gesture, keeping her tethered and warm.

“I promise.”

When they released, Finn bumped her arm with his fist, offering a small smile.

“Force be with you.”

“You, too.”

Rey turned, heading out to catch up with Poe. Her gear had already been packed and was waiting in the hanger, right next to Poe's stuff. They had been out of atmosphere less than ten minutes after Poe picked her up from the mess.

Now, three weeks out, she wished she could talk to Finn again. Ever since that conversation, she had felt as if there were something else going on that he wasn’t telling her about. Something important.

She set her racing thoughts aside in favor of grabbing her gear and heading up to the cargo bay. Poe would be waiting for her in the little shuttle. The mission was simple. Get in, get the two agents that were pinned down, get them out, return to the ship, send the intel to Leia, and fly home. Simple missions had a habit of going haywire, leading Poe to triple-checking everything.

“You ready?”, Poe asked with a small smile. He had not been his usual, charming self the last couple days. He also had terrible shadows beneath his eyes and was short on patience.

“I think so. Poe?”

He looked up from his final checks, offering her a tired but friendly smile.

“We’ll get Chase out of there, OK?”

The commander nodded. Rey moved into the co-pilot seat, settling in and hooking the straps to secure herself. Poe had promised it would be a bumpy ride. Once he was satisfied, Poe also strapped himself in.

“As soon as they are in place, they are going to open the bay doors and drop us into the atmosphere.”

Rey nodded, hitting the button to close the cockpit, securing them from the change when the bay doors opened. Looking, she saw the countdown on the console. She braced herself with a deep breath and closed eyes.

Poe counted down the final bit, his hands hovering over the controls, ready to fly them true.

“5…4…3…2…1. Launch.”


	2. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poe and Rey talk, Finn keeps busy, Rose has an announcement, and BB-8 is thinking of installing a hand-warmer since they are on a frozen wasteland of a planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still don't own STAR WARS, sorry.  
> Includes mentions of Leia watching her homeworld being destroyed and depressing thoughts about the Skywalker legacy.

Finn lay in his bunk, rereading the note. Rose and he had been doing well the first few weeks. She had saved him from getting himself killed doing something that ultimately would not have changed the course of events all that much, and he had carried her through the caves to the Falcon when Rey arrived.

But it had become pretty clear that they were not meant to be. Rose still cried over her sister’s death pretty regularly, sometimes waking up screaming from dreams where she was just out of reach, unable to help or stop her sister. Finn still had nightmares about Phasma, of being taken back and reprogrammed so that he would try to kill Rose, Poe, Leia, Luke, and even Rey.

Rose never spoke about her nightmares with him, nor could Finn ever get comfortable telling her about his. She still saw him as the hero who escaped the First Order and became a walking Resistance recruitment poster. And Finn sometimes felt he could not help her much, having never had a sister or anyone he could remember being related to, whom he had lost. For all he knew, his parents had been storm troopers who were willing to give up their baby to be raised a storm trooper. He could not offer much advice or comfort.

Then, just after Rey left for her next-to-most-recent mission, Rose had come to Finn and gently broken things off. He didn’t blame her. Poe had given Finn the advice, only hours earlier, to have a frank conversation with Rose and decide if they wanted to stick it out and work on things, or let it go and just be friends.

Just before Rey had returned, Finn had come back from a short mission where they had him helping recruit people to the cause, and he found Rose in a hallway. She had been making out with a dark haired man of average height and wearing a medic’s uniform. Finn didn’t comment or draw attention to himself, merely changing direction and taking the long way back to his quarters.

“FINN!”

Launching up from the bunk, Finn rushed over to his door. He didn’t recognize the voice, though he recognized the urgency. He hit the button and his door opened to reveal Sargent Decks.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’ve gotten an urgent transmission from the Calssius. They need help with evac, the engine is on the brink. Any available pilots are to take shuttles up to rescue as many people and supplies as possible. Come on!”

Poe and Rey had taken turns, when they had the time, training him to be a pilot. He wasn’t half as skilled as they were, but for this he was good enough. He was a better mechanic than he was a pilot. He was also finding out that he was an excellent navigator.

Finn shoved his feet into his shoes as he went, half-hopping down the corridor. Within ten minutes, he was in the air, riding next to Jessica as they headed for the Calssius. Radio chatter did well to fill him in. They had been fired upon just before entering hyper-space, arriving further out from the planet than they intended, unable to push the engines any further with the damage they suffered.

The plan was to get as many people and supplies out as they could, then leave a few charges on the ship and send it out away from the planet. That way, if the First Order did track it, they would believe it exploded there with all hands on board and heading off for another base, but the one they would have programmed into the navigation system was an older, long-abandoned base.

This also meant they had to move again. A new base, a new place for him to wait for Rey to return. He only hoped that Poe and Rey were able to complete their mission and to be able to find where the Rebellion had transplanted themselves.

~^~^~^~^~^~

Rey knelt over Poe, wrapping his wrist in medical gauze. He had burned it while helping dig through the guts of the shuttle, trying to repair the damage from the First Order’s blasts. Thankfully, they had not crashed and had not lost anyone. Rey had needed to use her lightsaber, while standing on the back of the shuttle, to deflect several shots and allow Poe a chance to repair the damage already done.

Now, their agents were secured in the cockpit, catching some much-needed sleep while Rey cleaned up Poe’s wrist. He did not seem to be in much pain, though she was willing to bet the tired but alive and otherwise well agent Chase Cross, had a lot to do with the current uptick in Poe’s mood.

“How’s Finn doing, these days? I didn’t get a chance to talk to him before we had to fly out of the base.”

Rey smiled, despite how it hurt a little to think about how long ago that had been. And how she had been unable to contact Finn since then. Being such a quiet, secretive mission, she was forbidden from sending or receiving any transmissions.

“Hey was jittery. I think something was going on between he and Rose, but he wouldn’t talk about it.”

A crease formed between Poe’s eyebrows just before he made a noise Rey wasn’t familiar with. Especially when coming from Poe.

“He didn’t tell you that she broke up with him?”

“No.”

“She came to me afterwards, worried she might have upset Finn more than he was letting on. She wanted someone to keep an eye on him, and she was afraid if she came to you, that you might slice her in half with your lightsaber.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because Finn’s your best friend and she broke up with him, ergo you would avenge his broken heart.”

She turned it over in her head, thinking on it. She supposed she could see why Rose would have been concerned over Rey’s reactions, yet she had thought that she and Rose were getting to be friends as well. Not as close as was with Finn, obviously, nor like how she and Poe were.

Poe, more than anyone, had seemed to understand what it meant to have the Skywalker legacy hanging over her head. From what little he had said about it, he knew when he first joined that he was “Shara’s boy” or “Dameron’s kid”. He had sometimes interacted with Ben Skywalker, when they were children, and remembered how everyone treated the younger boy.

Perhaps his own experience with sitting across from a torturer who had been your childhood playmate, had gaven him a special insight to her situation. She had been tortured and kidnapped by her own brother, someone who used to help take care of her as an infant, from what little Leia had spoken of it.

Finn, meanwhile, would always be her best friend. Even when he did not understand her problems the way Poe did, nor her love of droids like Lando did, or her desire to live up to her name the way Leia did, he understood her. Understood why she loved to stand in the rain, why she shoveled food in her mouth as if afraid it would disappear, why she sometimes couldn’t deal with everyone in such close proximity along with all the light and noise of so many living beings around her. He knew when she needed to just take off into the woods or a clearing for an hour and breathe. Or when she needed to hide out in his quarters, asleep under four of his blankets and one of her own, with Finn holding her from behind as she shook under the mound of blankets.

And more, he understood when she didn’t talk. He always seemed to just know when she needed a hug and his silent companionship and when she needed him to tell her the latest terrible, lame joke that Jessica or another pilot had told him. He was like the Force, always there. Constant.

“I wish I’d gotten to speak with him about it. I hate to think I left him back there, worrying while already heartbroken.”

“I’m not sure how heart broken he was about it. They had been drifting a while.”

Rey nodded. She hadn’t been unaware of that. Finn told her how much trouble he had talking about his nightmares with Rose. He hadn’t wanted to scare her or diminish her image of him. She had hero-worshiped him a bit and he hated to break that for her when she had already been through so much.

Even without a lot of experience in relationships, Rey could appreciate how keeping so much from each other would eventually cause an unraveling of a relationship. That was probably why she kept almost nothing from Finn and very little from Poe, Lando, Chewie, and Leia. She did not want to lose any of them.

“You know what I don’t get?”, Poe asked as he twisted his wrist around experimentally, checking her work on the bandage.

“What?”

Rey fell back against the wall, allowing herself a deep breath. The mission had been harrowing and long, and all she wanted was her bunk and a warm blanket, then three days to sleep through. Even better, she wanted a day to sleep in Finn’s bunk while he went about doing his normal duties, then came back to have dinner with her.

“Why you and Finn don’t just get over whatever you are letting get in the way, and get together already.”

“WHAT?”, Rey nearly choked.

“You two are so oblivious, according to Jessica. I think it’s a willful ignorance. I think the two of you don’t want to admit there’s something there.”

“Finn deserves better.”

“Come again?”

Rey sunk down, sitting on her butt with her back to the wall, mirroring Poe from across the narrow corridor. She looked up, trying to keep her thoughts and emotions under control. Last week she had nearly caused a ship-wide blackout when she got upset about their losing a crewman.

“I’m just a junk-collector from Jakku. Finn deserves someone who can help him navigate this new world, someone who can give him all the things he missed out on when he was Storm Trooper. I can’t do any of that.”

“Loyalty, kindness, care, protectiveness, comradery. You give him all of that.”

“I’m not up for this, Poe. I know I’m supposed to be a Skywalker, but that seems to be more a legacy of losing everyone you love because they stick to you instead of saving themselves. Anakin’s wife died because she tried to bring him back into the Light. Mara died protecting Luke right before his apprentice killed the other apprentices and nearly killed Luke. Leia watched her entire planet be destroyed right in front of her, including her father, she had her son turn to the Dark side, her husband died by their son’s hand just doing what she asked him to do if he saw Ben again, and then her own son nearly killed her just hours before she lost her brother. I can’t ask Finn to sign up for that.”

“That’s the beauty of being in love, Rey.", Poe smiled to her, "You’ll never have to. And I guarantee that if someone could go back and tell Han how it would end for him, he’d still choose Leia. I know if someone went back and told my dad how soon he’d lose my mom and how young I’d be when I ran off to follow in her footsteps, he would do it all over again, just the same as he did the first time. He told me himself, several times, that he wouldn’t trade one moment he had with my mom.”

“It’s my destiny to be a Skywalker, to help bring balance. I can’t ask Finn to risk himself that way. It isn’t his destiny.”

Poe muttered something under his breath, something Rey could not decipher.

“Huh?”

“Rewrite your stars. Something my mom used to say when people talked about being controlled by fate, destiny, the Force, or anything beyond their own will, as they were putting it. She used to tell them to rewrite their stars, to make their destiny suit them, not the other way around.”

Rey looked away, feeling the waves of sadness and warmth coming from Poe at the mention of his mother’s advice. The warmth nearly always overwhelmed the sadness. Rey had never met the woman, but she figured Shara had to have been something for such an echo to reside in Poe.

“I’ll think about it.”, she offered, not wishing to discuss the matter any further.

Poe stood, many of his joints cracking and popping as he did so.

“The only thing my dad ever mentioned he might do differently, he’d work up his courage sooner and make the first move a lot sooner, rather than wasting those weeks he spent kicking dirt and dragging his feet. And, especially in light of the past few days, I'm glad I didn't beat around the bush when I met Chase.”

With that, Poe left, heading up to the cockpit. Rey let out a shuttering breath. She did not want to lose Finn, though she could not argue against Poe’s reasoning. It was a dangerous galaxy. Even without anyone being a Jedi with Kylo gunning for them, a former Storm Trooper with a bounty on his head, a Rebel fighter, a Resistance agent, or just a farmer on a planet rich with resources. Finn was in constant danger as it stood, and there was not much Rey could do about it.

Leaning back, Rey let her eyes close and she reached out. Finn would be unable to respond, but Rey still felt the need to check on him. They were close enough now that she could do it. Finn wouldn’t be able to see her, talk to her, or even realize she had done this. It would simply allow her to check in on him, to get a sense of how he was feeling.

She smiled as she reached. He was so easy to find. It was as if he were wearing a beacon that always drew her to him. He was sleeping. His dream was making him restless. Rey furrowed her brow. She wished she could reach out, smooth a hand over his face and shoulders, saying his name till he woke or till he shifted to a more pleasant dream. He had done the same for her on many occasions.

“I’m coming, Finn.”

~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Finn worked diligently on the shuttle, prepping it for a mission tomorrow. He wouldn’t be flying, though he wanted to be helpful. Two mechanics were down with something serious and nasty, one of the pilots broke her arm yesterday, and a few droids were in desperate need of Rey’s repairs. Finn wanted to be of use. He was a very good mechanic and he knew that was something the Rebellion was in great need of at the moment.

BB-8 rolled up to him, chirping a question.

“I’m fine, BB-8. You?”

The droid responded with his usual cheerful clicks, but then hung his little head, looking sad.

“You miss Poe?”

The droid nodded.

“He’ll be back soon.”

BB-8 made disgruntled noises.

“How do I know? Well, I just… I know, alright. I just know.”

BB-8 rolled closer, looking at what Finn was up to. Just as Finn was about to roll back out to get a tool, BB-8’s little tool of an arm was there, holding the exact tool Finn needed.

“Thanks.”

It beeped at him again.

“Of course, I miss her.”

Another series of chirps.

“I know, I know. WE miss her.”

BB-8 moved closer, leaning almost like a child to rest his head on Finn’s elbow. Finn reached, gently patting the droid’s little dome head.

“She’ll be back soon, I’m sure of it.”

A questioning chirp.

“I just… I just do, okay.”

BB-8 nodded, then wobbled back and forth a bit, shuffling in a rare clear space on the cluttered floor. Finn offered a tired smile before returning his focus to the repairs in front of him. Finn had barely gotten the first stage of the repair done, when he heard someone coming in from the back.

“Finn?”

Rose. He let out a long breath.

“In here.”

She appeared from behind some crates that were stacked along the back and one side wall, helping to buffer his work space from the battering, blistering wind coming up from the east. The entire base was a rusted, drafty relic, meaning any insulation was welcome.

“Can we talk for a minute?”

“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

She rubbed her palms against the hips of her coveralls and wouldn’t meet his eyes. Finn was starting to worry that, whatever it was, might be really bad.

“Just say it, Rose?”

“I got married.”

“I know.”

Rose’s mouth hung open for a second, her eyes wide.

“How?”

“Poe.”

“How did he know?”

“He’s done spy work, he’s dating a covert agent, and I’m pretty sure Poe’s good friends with 99 percent of the entire Resistance. He probably knew you were getting married before Hess thought to ask you.”

“Well, that’s not my only news. I just didn’t want you to hear this all from gossip, I’d hoped to tell you myself.”

“Yes?”

“I’m pregnant.", she blurted, barely taking a breath before letting out a torrent of words.

" _That’s now why Hess’n I got married though, I swear. We were gonna anyway, but then I found out about the baby, and so he insisted we not wait like we were going to, and we go ahead and get married, and so we did, but I couldn’t have you finding out in the lunch line or something, so I figured I’d tell you, but now that seems like it was a really bad idea and a little cruel. I’m not flaunting this in your face or anything, but I feel like_ ,”, Finn interrupted her fast-paced ramble.

“Rose, take a breath. You’re talking so fast, I can barely understand.”

Rose took a couple slow breaths, still unable to maintain his gaze.

“I figured that I owed it to you, to tell you, and not have you find out through the grape vine. I mean, I know we’ve been broken up for a while now and all, but… Still, seemed like I ought to be straight with you and not have you get caught by surprise.”

Finn could understand that, even appreciate the effort. It could not have been easy for her to come and tell him all this. So he smiled widely, genuinely happy for her.

“Congratulations, Rose.”

For the first time since the fathiers, he saw her warm, watery smile.

“Thanks, Finn.”, she wiped a tear away and let out a small chuckle.

“I’ll let you get back to work then.”

“Yeah, plenty of droids and such that need attention. I’ll probably still be getting caught up when I’m 90.”

She laughed, shaking her head as she walked out. Finn let out a breath, allowing the new information to settle in as he returned to his work. It was slow going, as he kept having to stop and rub his hands together to warm them. It was so cold that he felt like he was working with ten frozen sticks rather than his own fingers.

Finn then felt a nudge at his hip, as he went to breath over his hands and rub them together again, hoping the friction would return the feeling along with the blood. He looked to find BB-8 giving him a look.

“What?”

More chirps.

“I know, maybe we’ll have to get Poe to install a hand warmer when he gets back. Then you could rent yourself out.”

BB-8 growled at him, then rolled off. Finn just smiled, still enjoying teasing the little droid about how he had been quite rich with all the coins inside of him from the casino. Some of those credits had come in very handy for the Resistance when they returned and after they made their escape on the Falcon. BB-8 had managed to keep just enough stored away to get them two more ships. Battered, battle-scarred, rusty ships. But in Poe and Rey’s hands, it hadn’t mattered what wrecks they had been.

Finn continued to work diligently, trying to get as much done as he could before the exhaustion set in. He had found that he slept best these days, if he was totally drained and barely functional enough to locate his bunk. Then he didn't dream, or if he did, he was unable to remember any of it when he woke up. It also helped to stay busy, keeping his mind so focused on the task at hand that he couldn't think so much about Rey and Poe, worrying when or if they would ever come home.

Shaking his head, Finn wanted to smack the dark thoughts from his own mind. He let out long breath into his cupped hands, attempting to warm them a little, then tugged his battered jacket closer.

"Come on Finn, get it together. They'll be home soon. Course they will. Now back to work.", he ordered himself. Rey and Poe really did need to come back though. Finn was beginning to talk to himself more often than even BB-8 and C3-PO did.


	3. Say That It's Possible(How Do We Rewrite the Stars)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey returns, Finn has a few things to say, and R2 is a match-maker... sort of.

Rey walked out of the back of she and Poe’s stolen ship, the fresh, damp air from a recent rain, filling her senses. It was all damp and gray, but Rey did not mind in the least. There was something about these rainy places, the trees looked greener, the fruits more brilliant, even the sky looked a brighter blue in between the clouds.

“Day-dreamer, you comin’?”

She turned to find Poe walking out, an arm wrapped around the small of Chase’s slim waist. Despite his time in captivity, the covert agent still looked like he was ready to take on the First Order all over again. Especially now that his favorite pilot was at his side.

“Just enjoying being home.”

Chase shook his head.

“It’s the latest base the General found for us, hardly a home.”

Poe nudged Chase’s ribs.

“Home isn’t a place, Chase.”, he said with a mischivious smirk. Chase grinned back, dimples forming in his fair cheeks, his green eyes sparkling with humor. Clearly there was an inside joke Rey wasn’t party to, which made her smile. Seeing her friends happy and together always made Rey smile.

Turning his attention back to her, Poe offered, “Aren’t you supposed to be having a serious conversation with an important person?”

Nodding, Rey dashed off, sliding a little on the icy surface of the tarmac. Regaining her balance, she hastened to the mess hall. Or at least, where she assumed the mess would be from prior bases she had stayed in.

She went through several halls before finding the cantine, then she saw that it was nearly empty. One of the cooks, a bald, purple-skinned man she did not recognize, waved at her.

“Can I help ‘ee, miss?”

“I was looking for my friend, I thought he might be in here.”

“Nah, we shut down ‘bout two hours ago. Holiday tomorrow, we’ve got to get ready.”

Rey nodded, already beginning to wonder where Finn might be.

“If’n you’ve just got in and you’re hungry, we might could rustle something up for you. Even heat it!”

Her stomache growled loudly enough for the purple cook to hear and grin at her.

“Come on back, miss. We’ve got some leftovers from dinner. Be ready in a jiffy.”, he called before taking off. A half second later, he turned back.

“Yer not unable to eat anything are ‘ee?”

“Pardon?”

“There ‘re some around who’ve got religions that aren’t permittin’ of all foods, some don’t eat meat, some cannot eat what has been touched by another’s bare hand, some will not eat anything green.”

She smiled, amazed at the man’s kindness and knowledge of the particulars of those he served daily.

“I haven’t found anything yet I don’t eat.”

The man brightened, a wide smile coming to his perfectly round face.

“AH! Alas, one of ‘ee who appreciates food the way me and mine do. I’ll have ‘ee up a plate in a jiffy. Just be a jiffy!”, and he took off again. Rey found a seat nearby, pulling out some utensils from her little pack she carried with her. Poe was working with she and Finn on their table manners, and sometimes he would give them a lesson while on downtime during an active mission, and so Rey kept her utensils close at hand on missions for Poe to be able to teach her everything.

The purple-skinned cook returned, a large plate in hand, steam wafting up from it. Rey’s mouth watered at the scrumptious smell. The kindly man placed the meal in front of her, offering a fork that was much nicer than the one from her Go-Bag.

“Here ‘ee go, can’t have you eatin’ with field gear when you’ve got a real plate and a real table here in the mess. Now eat up, eat hardy! You’ll waste away if’n you don’t put some food in ‘ee.”

Reaching, Rey laid a hand at the man’s elbow to catch him, since he seemed such a flurry of motion.

“What is your name? Are you new to the Resistance?”

“Not exactly, no. I was a friend of old Solo’s and he asked me, when he found me injured and indebted to the Hutt, if’n I would care to come and cook for the Rebellion. Been travelin’ and cookin’ ever since. Solo loved my food, so he figured it’d be a perfect job fer me.”

Even the mention of Han’s name still brought an ache to her chest, despite the time that had passed.

“He used to bring his boy and wee baby girl, I would fix her little sweets that were good fer youngins, keep’em happy and their tummies full of all the good things to make them grow tall and strong. And that wee one, she was a strong’un. Could bend a spoon ‘afore she was two.”

He let out a slow breath and Rey could feel the echo of his old pain. He had clearly loved being part of Han’s extended family, and he missed those innocent days, long past.

“My name is Sonae, miss. And you?”

“Rey.”

The look of the man changed, Sonae’s yellow eyes softening as a sweet, watery smile spread over his face.

“Aye, well Miss Rey, you dig in and I’ll be back by to check on ‘ee in a bit. Got loads of things to bake and prepare for the dinner tomorrow. Hardly a banquet, though more than enough for all to have two full bellies a piece.”

With that, he disappeared quickly back into his kitchen while Rey dug into her food. It all tasted wonderful, so much so that she was unsure what item was her favorite. Finn and she had started a game, once they knew food was plentiful and always coming, of each picking a favorite then trying to guess the other’s favorite. Finn almost always guessed hers.

Once she had almost finished the plate, Sonae came back with a small drink, placing it by her right hand.

“Here ‘ee go, Miss Rey. The staff’ve been sampling the bubbly for tomorrow, with the General’s permission of course, and I thought you might like a cup. May be hard to get a chilled cup tomorrow, with all the festivities.”

“Thank you.”

Sonae grinned down at her.

“If’n you don’t mind my sayin’ it, Miss. You remind me a lot of an old friend.”

“I don’t mind, Sonae.”

He beamed.

“Good. Now you finish tuckin’ in, and I’ll be in the kitchen awaitin’ yer dirty dish. I expect it to be empty when ‘ee bring it back in.”

Sharing another smile, he turned and headed back into the kitchen. Rey polished off the last of her food before taking a moment to enjoy the bubbly. It was cool and crisp on her tongue, tickling her lips and nose as she sipped it. Whatever it was, she hadn’t had it before. It was delicious.

Cup and plate empty, she brought them back to the kitchen. A small man with four legs waved for her to bring them to him, where he and another taller fellow were washing up from the last few diners, and then she checked for Sonae. He was in the back, bickering in a language she didn’t understand, with another purple-skinned man, with a full head of orange and pink hair. Rey decided not to interrupt.

~^~^~^~^~

Finn shivered in his thin jacket as he worked. He had been up most of the night working, unable to sleep on the two occasions he tried. The first time, he had simply been too restless and his mind raced. The second, he was so cold that he could not get comfortable. Growing up in the barrecks, he had been accustomed to being somewhat cold, but this biting, wet cold was something else. So was the draft.

BB-8 had chirped something happy and disappeared nearly an hour earlier, though Finn had been too tired to decipher it. Instead, he just waved at the backside of the rapidly disappearing droid. Another droid, one that had taken a shine to BB-8, had also disappeared behind the brave little droid. R2, however, had stayed behind.

“You’ve been around for a while, huh?”

R2 gave a happy set of beeps. Finn smiled, taking a moment to sit up straight, rolling his shoulders out. It let the cool air up the back of his jacket, yet it permitted him to take a full, deep breath.

“I guess you get used to moving around, from base to base. Are any of them on nice planets, with sunshine and just a little rain to keep things green? Or are they all some extreme cold, hot, or wet?”

The droid let out a serious of beeps, Finn catching most of it.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Putting a base right where everyone wants to go and hang out, it wouldn’t stay a secret base for very long.”

R2 beeped back his approval of Finn’s reasoning. Finn continued to make adjustments to the small generator he had been working on for the past two hours. It was a back-up for the medical unit and Rose’s husband, Hess, had been fiddling with it when Finn stopped by for a moment to ask if there was anything they needed worked on that did not require Rey’s skill level.

At first, Hess had been awkward, refusing to maintain eye contact with Finn. Finn wasn’t entirely comfortable around the man, though he could see why Rose had been interested in the medic. He was friendly, if a little quiet, and he had a face that was easy to trust. He was also one of the Resistance’s best medics, as per Poe and Jessica.

“Is that generator not working?”, Finn asked.

“Not since before the last move. It had been sputtering out for a few days, then with all the moving and hustling it around, I think we may have killed it.”

“Here, I’ll give it a look.”

Hess handed him the cube, about as tall as BB-8, and offered an uneasy smile.

“Thank you.”

“Not much else do wo while we wait on the General’s next orders, or for Poe and Rey to come back.”

The other man nodded. He was a bit shorter than Finn, though his build suggested he spent a lot of time working and moving heavy items. Finn had seen the man working on people on the tarmac, carting around those who were too badly injured to come in on their own steam. In a way, he reminded Finn of Poe. A quieter, shorter, less cock-sure version.

“Rose told me your good news.”

The other man’s eyes went wide.

“Both parts. Congradulations.”

Hess nodded, the color returning to his face. Then a smile blossomed.

“It was unexpected. I had proposed to her just the day before she found out.”

Finn nodded, happy to hear their news.

“I’m glad. She deserves only the best.”

Hess nodded, “On that, I agree totally. Not that I don’t think you deserved her or,”, Finn interrupted.

“You make her happy, she deserves to be happy. Take care of her, alright?”

“Of course! But… Promise you won’t mention what I’m about to say, to Rose, in the future? She’ll kill me if she finds out I shared.”

“I promise.”

Hess’s eyes darted around the room, as if paranoid of Rose popping out of nowhere.

“She says she thinks things between the two of you would never have worked because she thought you were already in love with someone else.”

“Pardon?”

Hess leaned closer.

“Rose thinks you’re in love with Rey, and from what little I’ve seen, I can’t say that I disagree with her.”

“Rey deserves a lot better than a former storm trooper and janitor.”

The medic shook his head, an amused, impish grin on his face.

“People get so hung up on thinking they aren’t strong enough, brave enough, or good enough, they forget that it isn’t their opinion that matters. I don’t think Rey has ever thought you weren’t enough.”

Hess ducked his head, shrugging one shoulder.

“Not really my business, but I hate to see a good man talk himself out of a good thing.”

Finn didn’t know how to respond to that, so he took the generator and headed out. He had been in the garage ever since, still using boxes of spare parts and bits, to shield himself from the bitter wind.

“How long do you think before the General has us move again? Do you think she’ll wait for Poe and Rey to come back?”

R2 beeped out a response, the last bit catching Finn’s full attention.

“They’re here! They’re back! Why didn’t you say something?”

R2 made an indignant beeping, his blue light flashing yellow and red for a second before returning to blue. Finn stood, tossing his tools aside and heading for the tarmac. He needed to see Rey.

~^~^~^~^~

Rey had struck out. Finn wasn’t in the mess, he had not been in the main hall, he had not been in the rooms he was assigned as per BB-8. The droid, having come to find her after seeing to Poe and Chase, informing her that Finn had been in the far garage, which they then checked and found empty. Then they had gone to check Finn’s room at the end of a long hall, before checking a couple more places.

She decided that maybe it could wait until this festival tomorrow, with all the good food and bubbly. Surely Finn would be there. It seemed everyone was expected to come and enjoy themselves. A bit deflated, Rey made her way to the quarters that BB-8 said had been assigned to her, while BB-8 headed off to return to his master. He even gave her a little wave, of sorts, that mostly consisted of a cute shake of his little body before he buzzed off.

This base, unlike most of the others, was more circular, making it a bit more like a maze to Rey. She was accustomed to the straight, square, large spaces of the abandoned Empire relics on Jakku, or the functional, no space wasted, cluttered rectangles that had made up the bulk of Resistance bases. These old Rebellion bases were different, coming in various shapes and sizes, most of them seemingly made to blend into to whatever the landscape dictated.

By the time she found her way to her room, she was tripping and dragging her feet. Until she had nearly tripped over BB-8, Rey hadn’t realized how tired she was. Though her full belly had done little to wake her back up.

“Rey?”

She jumped, spinning to look at a figure crouched on the floor in front of one of the bedroom doors. Rey recognized him instantly.

“Finn! What are you doing here? I’ve been looking all over for you.”

He smiled, looking as tired as she felt.

“I didn’t realize you and Poe were back, so I was working in the garage until R2 told me that you had come back. Then I went to greet you at the landing strip.”

Rey tugged Finn up by his hand, then flung herself forward to hug him. His arms wrapped right around her, no hesitation. Then she realized that his cheek and ear felt cold against the side of her head.

“Why are you so cold?”

“No heat in the garage yet. And it’s drafty.”

“Come on, maybe I can crank the heat in my room and defrost you.”

He nodded, letting her tug him into her room, their hands not parting till she required both of hers to get the heater running, as it had not been fully hooked up. Nothing that was part of the environmental controls from when it had been a Rebellion base, still worked in the individual rooms, so everyone had to have a separate little heater to keep the rooms livable.

“There we go. Should be more comfortable in here, in a few minutes.”

“Finn shivered a little, despite himself.

“You going to the festival tomorrow?”, he asked.

“I think so. When I went to look for you, Sonae insisted on fixing me a plate and he told me about the festival. He also gave me this cup of something he called bubbly. He said they will serve it at the dinner tomorrow. You should make sure to get a cup, it is delicious! It might be my favorite drink.”

“You mean your New Favorite Drink?”, he teased.

Rey blushed a little smiling wide.

“I can’t help it, there’s so much good food and so many good drinks. It’s hard to choose just one to be my favorite.”

He nodded, totally understanding. He had gotten so used to the tasteless gruel back in the First Order mess, he was still reeling with how good the food tasted here. Even the food that most of the others didn’t particularly like.

“Rey, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

“There’s something I want to talk to you about too, Finn.”

“You go first.”

“But you brought it up first?”

“I know, but I want to hear yours first.”

She nodded, a shy smile bubbling up.

“Alright. Um… can we sit?”

Finn nodded, feeling nervous. He had no idea what Rey might want to tell him, but whatever it was, after she was done, he was going to have to explain how he didn’t want to just be friends anymore. He wanted… something more.

“Here.”

Rey handed him a blanket to put over his legs while she threw an old jacket around her shoulders, pulling her knees up to her chest to hug them close. Finn knew it was big, whatever it was. She didn’t normally sit like that unless she was upset, or sometimes when she was trying to sort out something with her Jedi training.

“I changed my mind, I want you to go first.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I need a couple more minutes to sort mine out.”

“Okay… I… I talked to Hess earlier.”

“Uh-huh.”

“He talked about how Rose told him something, and he doesn’t want her to know he shared it, so keep this to us, okay?”

Rey nodded, without hesitation. She wouldn’t share anything Finn told her in confidence.

“Rose thinks that, even if she hadn’t met Hess and hit it off with him, she and I wouldn’t have worked out cause I’m… I’m in love with someone else.”

Rey’s mouth dropped open. How could she have missed that? Sure, she was gone a lot and usually for a good amount of time on each mission, but this was huge. This was something she shouldn’t have missed.

“Really?”

“Yeah, and now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I think she was right.”

“You do?”

He nodded. Rey reached, giving his hand a squeeze. She was happy for him, she really was, but there was a part of her that feared this. Not only had she been blind to something so important, she also might not be able to spend as much time with Finn once he was with this other girl. He would have less time for her, and less time to spend with she and Poe between missions. He might not even take his Table Manners lessons with them anymore, if this girl would be willing to teach him.

“Well, have you told her yet?”

“No. Tried to earlier, but… Well what’s it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Nothing important. I want to hear more about your girl.”

He leaned in, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Come on, tell me?”

Letting out a long breath, Rey decided to tell him half of it.

“I was talking to Poe and, while I agreed he had a point or two, I think that this Skywalker thing means I need to be alone.”

“What?”, Finn couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Alone? Why ever would Rey think she ought to be alone.

“I don’t understand, why do you have to be alone? Is it some Jedi Training thing, like a test of will, go out in the desert and be alone for a while. Cause if that’s the case, I’m sure you already met that with all the time you spent on Jakku!”

Rey shook her head, curling a little more tightly into herelf.

“No, it’s not that. It’s the Skywalker legacy.”

“Rey, I don’t think being Luke Skywalker’s niece or General Organa’s daughter, is going to make people fear you or something. Sure, they might be in a bit of… awe at meeting you, but once they get a chance to get to know you, people will see you, not the Skywalker Legacy.”

“That’s the problem.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Anakin’s mother let him go be in the middle of a war, to give him a chance at a life no slave woman could offer her son. Then she died in his arms when he finally got home to her, or at least that’s what I’ve gotten from Leia. Then her mother died having she and Luke, because Anakin accidently killed her, then Leia watched the mother that raised her, die slowly of illness, her father and her entire planet obliterated by the Empire right in front of Leia. Luke’s aunt and uncle were killed protecting him, then he lost Mara when she tried to protect him from his own nephew’s killing rampage. Leia lost her son to the Dark Side, her brother to his own grief, and her husband by their son’s own hand. That’s the real Skywalker legacy, getting everyone you care about killed. It’s better to be alone.”

“No, Rey. No. You’ve already been alone far too much, you don’t deserve to live that way anymore. You never should have lived that way.”

“It’s my fate, Finn. I’m supposed to be alone.”

“Then change your fate! Rewrite your stars.”

“What?”

Finn shook his head, already beating himself up. Rey could almost see the internal battering he was giving himself.

“It’s something Poe says sometimes, when people say they are fated to something bad, or that the control of their life is out of their hands. He’ll tell them to rewrite their stars. And I think he’s right, and that’s what you should do. You should defy fate, make your own way.”

“But then other people get hurt.”

“But maybe they won’t. Maybe that legacy ends with you.”

“I couldn’t live with it.”

Finn reached, holding her shoulders gently, trying to force her to meet his gaze.

“Please Rey, don’t shut everyone out. Don’t shut me out.”

“I can’t have your suffering, your dying, on my conscience, Finn. I can’t lose you.”

Finn leaned forward, cupping her cheek in his work-roughened hand. He leaned in close enough for her to count his eye lashes.

“You won’t. I won’t let you.”

“I don’t think I get a choice, Finn.”

“This time you do. Please Rey, don’t make me chase you, cause I will. Where you go, I go. I’m not leaving you.”

“What if that gets you killed?”

“The two of us took on Kylo and we survived, we took on the First Order head on and we survived. I think this Skywalker thing is what happens if you go out alone. Kylo left his family and they each took off in their own directions. Maybe sticking with the people you care about, sticking with your family, is how you avoid that legacy.”

“Do you really think I can beat this?”

Finn smiled, pressing his forehead to Rey’s.

“I think you can do anything you set your mind to, Rey. Anything.”

“Make my own fate?”

“Especially that?

Rey moved her face up, gently pressing her lips to Finn’s. They lingered, neither deepening the kiss, Finn’s hands moved down to her elbows, hers to his shoulders. After a moment, they broke apart.

“Rey, there’s one more thing I want to tell you.”

She went wide-eyed. He had said Rose thought he was in love with someone, and Rey had begun to think he meant her, but perhaps she had been mistaken. He might have meant he would stick as her friend, and she misunderstood.

“Yes?”

“Rose was right. I’m in love with you.”

She closed her eyes, listening to him and feeling a bright, bubbly feeling deep in her marrow, spreading out to warm her all over. Rey didn’t speak. She hadn’t the words. Instead, she pulled Finn closer and kissed him again.

The kiss was wonderful and everything Rey had thought it might be, and more. Then Finn shivered.

“Are you alright?”

Giving her a sheepish look, he mumbled.

“Still cold.”

Reaching out with the Force, Rey turned the heat output up as high as she dared, then pulled the blanket up from her bed as Finn arranged the blanket that had been over his legs, to cover them both. Neither said a word, they just smiled and snuggled into the stiff, cold bed. They laid facing each other, hands intertwined, two blankets atop them, with no sound aside from the hum of the heating unit.

Using the Force again, Rey turned off the lights, more than ready to get some sleep. A little starlight still filtered through the thick glass of her small, rectangular window that stretched almost the length of her room. By the time she had gotten the lights and heater taken care of, she could hear Finn’s light snore. He was asleep at last.

Judging by the dark circles under his eyes and the bags beside them, he must have gone far too long without sleep. Rey’s exertions and crashing from the rush of the mission, ensured she slept whenever possible on the mission. However, that sleep was always light like when she was in her AT-AT during good weather. She had always slept better during a sand storm, when she knew that no one would be traveling and she would have no chance of an unwanted, dangerous visitor.

Rey smiled up at Finn. He was right. If she kept her little family close, she could do this. Poe had been right, she just had to rewrite her stars. She thought of Han, Chewie, Lando, Jessica, Poe, Chase, B-8, R2, Leia, and of Finn. They all cared about her, all were willing to fight at her side and have her back. And she would do the same for any of them. She could do this, she could be a Skywalker and have her family.

Leaning a little forward, she pressed a feather-light kiss to Finn’s forehead.

“Goodnight.”, she whispered softly. She saw a twitch at the corner of his lips, like he almost smiled. Satisfied, Rey curled into his chest and allowed sleep to take her. Tomorrow, they would enjoy the festival and the dinner, if there was music, Poe would make she, Finn, and Chase join him in a dance. She intended to enjoy it, and she also intended to snag a couple cups of that bubbly for she and Finn. She couldn’t wait to see his face when he tasted it.

Just before sleep could totally take her over, Rey had one more thing to say.

“I love you.”


End file.
